"APRIL, 1912."—A GLIMPSE OF THE NORTH SEA THREE YEARS HENCE WITH THE FIGHTING SHIPS OF GERMANY AND BRITAIN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 526, 5 June 1909, Page 6

"APRIL, 1912."—A GLIMPSE OF THE NORTH SEA THREE YEARS HENCE WITH THE FIGHTING SHIPS OF GERMANY AND BRITAIN.

. ■I n ,,thie issue'.appears ,an: illustratipri gi?vievr.! of [■■ the,fighting- Value' of the'Britißh.-arid'German fleets as they will ; 1912,.the-.date'>hich v has 'suddenly'is-Bumed'so.much;-.importance. 'Thirteen Ger- : man-'Dreadnoughts' (and four cruisers)'-are' placed-., opposite .'.seventeen 'British Dreadnoughtsj;' but" it 'is ■ possible:that,-in .April, l 1912/tlie numbers f may bo seventeen-Gorman .DreadnouglitS. ." In addition to: these giant vessels, thero will )k the.British , Fleet of .forty pre-Drcadnought' vessels,;facee(as,.in-.the,'illustration) by a fleet of twenty German .pre-Dreadnought.bat-' tleships,. arid.'.', British , ' r armotued , ' cruisers would number twenty-five te- the German six. : i We.lead,.:of r oou ; rsej.but how fast.each type ■ becomes';'obsolete..•,,Four or'five.',.yeara..agoi there;,were?.-f6w' .more- powerful -battleshap's' j afloat,'; and certainly.none' more-famous' than

Adniiral.Togo's,,flagfihip Mikasa.' 'As an- ilustration as to'.how, far. ehe has ■'. been 'set back.by more recentl'types it has"only to hi pointed/out that, if. she were in the'picture, she-would be. buried far down in,the second group\among the Formidables, to which class she belongs..:,,. . : ': ■"■■:■ ; It is\surprising how inany 'fine- types havo now-.been,.s,hunted back into'the.pre-Dread-nought. group;, very obsolescent some, of them, .too- ■ According to Jane's notation, and taking ' like the Mikasa ae tho unit, tho hrst-.-Jdt.jii-. tho pre-Dreadnouglit . British Nelsons, ai>d eight. King Edwards-rdisclpse a fighting value-of 120 each, or.-J2.o;for,the'wholo. Then.cdines tho FonmdablosT-three of them,-' throe LondonsJ two .Queens, and two Swiftsurcs, of an nverftge.fiTO.potentiarof. 1.00 each'.. After these follow six Duncans, six' Can'opue, and' nine

Majesties, each with, a- bnttle effect of '0.9; The last : - ckss ■ in •'■ the ; ■ Royal Sovereigns. arc supposed to We'' a , , battle value of .8 each/but that is now very doubt-' jrnl. 'What'the battle value of a Dreadnought may bo'.has -never beon'-worked'.out.' ' ■ i ThxTpro-Dreadnonght-German ships aro intcrosting tvpes; inasmuch, as .'they illurtrato tho_ futile attempts' of earlier' German naval articles to keep- pace with the beautiful designs _of Sir Wmi White, sometime director of British naval coustructioTi. In this group are to bo found, eight Braunechweigs (averago battlo potential 1.00 each)) and five Wittelsbachs (potential. 0.9 each). . i ' .... Tho' following, list -indicates the dock and building resources of both Powers:—British: Number-of „}slips, about 'seventeen•.'Portsmouth, Dovonport, . Elswick (2), Barrow (3), Groenock,, Jarrow,-.-. Clydebank, Govan, Cam-

moll,' Laird, and Boardmore's (2), Co. (3)." Docks, which'■ can- accommodate • . Dreadt noughts tho'North' Sea!, Stephenßon's' Dock,: Tynb;. / . Elsewhere:. Portsmouth ■ Dockyard, No. ■ 14; Southampton : Dock, No.'6'■ Southampton Dock,- No. 6; -Devonpprf. Doc&. yard, No. 8; Devoriport. Dockyard, , :No.- V 9; Devonporfc Dockyard,' No.. 10: Liverpool, Canada Dock; 'Liverpool, Brookiebank. Dock; Birkonhoad, Cammoll, Laird's Tramnore,' N0..1. •' ; .-. -.■■•■■'■ - ■•■<■.; ■•• ',

Gpnnan :—Nnmbor of Blips, about fotir- , ■teen, with threo others capable of being adojjtod, as followV--V.ulkan Conipany (StettinV; Vulkan Company. (Hamburg) , ; '.Blohm and Voss (Bfamburg); Sohiobau' (Elbing.-and Danzig) j AVeser.. (Bremen); Gormania. (Kiel); Imperial.Dockyard (Kiel); Imperial Dockyard (Wilhelmshaveii). • •'. ■', .',,;•■■.■■ .... 1, ~■-'..